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"Weren't there occasionally those who... I don't know, misbehaved?
Children, for example. Where I come from, children can sometimes become
rowdy. Children where you come from must sometimes become rowdy, too."
Owen shrugged a bit with one shoulder. "Well, yes, I guess so. There
were times when children misbehave and become unruly."
"And what do you do with such children?"
Owen cleared his throat, plainly uncomfortable. "Well, they are... put
out of their home for a time."
"Put out of their home for a time," Richard repeated. He lifted his
arms in a questioning shrug. "The children I know will usually be happy to
be put outside. They simply go play."
Owen shook his head emphatically at the serious nature of the matter.
"We are different. From the time we are born, we are together with others.
We are all very close. We depend on one another. We cherish one another. We
spend all our waking hours with others. We cook and wash and work together.
We sleep in a sleeping house, together. Ours is an enlightened life of human
contact, human closeness. There is no higher value than being together."
"So," Richard asked, feigning a puzzled look, "when one of you-- a
child--is put out, that is a cause of unhappiness?"
Owen swallowed as a tear ran down his cheek. "There could be nothing
worse. To be put out, to be closed off from others, is the worst horror we
can endure. To be forced out into the cold cruelty of the world is a
nightmare."
Just talking about such a punishment, thinking about it, was making
Owen start to tremble.
"And that's when, sometimes, the races get such children," Richard said
in a compassionate tone. "When they're alone and vulnerable."
With the back of his hand Owen wiped the tear from his cheek. "When a
child must be put out to be punished, we take all possible precautions. We
never put them out at night because that is when the races usually hunt.
Children are put out for punishment only in the day. But when we are away
from others, we are vulnerable to all the terrors and cruelties of the
world. To be alone is a nightmare.
"We would do anything to avoid such punishment. Any child who
misbehaves and is put out for a while will not likely misbehave again
anytime soon. There is no greater joy than to finally be welcomed back in
with our friends and family."
"So, for your people, banishment is the greatest punishment."
Owen stared into the distance. "Of course."
"Where I come from, we all got along pretty well, too. We enjoyed each
other's company and had great fun when many people would gather. We valued
our times together. When we're away for a time, we inquire about all the
people we know and haven't seen in a while."
Owen smiled expectantly. "Then you understand."
Richard nodded, returning the smile. "But occasionally there will be
someone who won't behave, even when they're an adult. We try everything we
can, but, sometimes, someone does something wrong--something they know is
wrong. They might lie or steal. Even worse, at times someone will
deliberately hurt another person--beat someone when robbing them, or rape a
woman, or even murder someone."
Owen wouldn't look up at Richard. He stared at the ground.
As he spoke, Richard paced slowly before the man. "When someone does
something like that where you come from, Owen, what do your people do? How
do an enlightened people handle such horrible crimes some of your people
commit against others?"
"We attack the root cause of such behavior from the beginning," Owen
was quick to answer. "We share all we have to make sure that everyone has
what they need so that they don't have to steal. People steal because they
feel the hurt of others acting superior. We show these people that we are no
better than they and so they need not harbor such fears of others. We teach
them to be enlightened and reject all such behavior."
Richard shrugged nonchalantly. Kahlan would have thought that he would
be ready to strangle the answers out of Owen, but, instead, he was behaving
in a calm, understanding manner. She had seen him act this way before. He
was the Seeker of Truth, rightfully named by the First Wizard himself.
Richard was doing what Seekers did: find the truth. Sometimes he used his
sword, sometimes words.
Even though this was the way Richard often disarmed people when he
questioned them, in this case it struck Kahlan that such a manner was
precisely what Owen would be most accustomed to, most comfortable with. This
gentle manner was pulling answers from the man and filling in a lot of
information Kahlan had never thought of trying to get.
She had already learned that she was the cause of what had befallen
these people.
"We both know, Owen, that, try as we might, such efforts to change
people's ways don't always work. Some people won't change. There are times
when people do evil things. Even among civilized people, there are some who
will not behave in a civil manner despite all your best efforts. What's
worse is that, if allowed to continue, these few jeopardize the whole
community.
"After all, if you have a rapist among you, you can't allow him to
continue to prey on women. If a man committed murder, you couldn't allow
such a man to threaten the empire with his ways, now could you? An advanced
culture, especially, can't be faulted for wanting to stop such dangers to
enlightened people.
"But you've shunned all forms of violence, so you can hardly punish
such a man physically--you couldn't put a murderer to death--not if you've
truly rejected violence unconditionally. What do you do with such men? How
does an enlightened people handle grave problems, such as murder?"
Owen was sweating. It seemed not to have occurred to him to deny the
existence of murderers--Richard had already led him past that, had already
established the existence of such men. Before Owen could think to object,
Richard was already beyond, to the next step.
"Well," Owen said, swallowing, "as you say, we are an enlightened
people. If someone does something to harm another, they are given ... a
denunciation."
"A denunciation. You mean, you condemn their actions, but not the man.
You give him a second chance."
"Yes, that's right." Owen wiped sweat from his brow as he glanced up at
Richard. "We work very hard to reform people who make such mistakes and are
given a denunciation. We recognize that their actions are a cry for help, so
we counsel them in the ways of enlightenment in order to help them to see
that they are hurting all our people when they hurt one, and that since they
are one of our beloved people, they are only hurting themselves when they
hurt another. We show such people compassion and understanding."
Kahlan caught Cara's arm, and with a stern look convinced her to remain
silent.
Richard paced slowly before Owen, nodding as if he thought that sounded
reasonable. "I understand. You put a great deal of effort into making them
see that they can never do such a thing again."
Owen nodded, relieved that Richard understood.
"But then there are times when one of those who has received a
denunciation, and has been counseled to the very best of your ability, goes
out and does the same crime again--or one even worse.
"It's clear, then, that he refuses to be reformed and that he's a
threat to public order, safety, and confidence. Left to his own devises,
such a person, by himself, will bring the very thing you unconditionally
reject--violence--to stalk among your people and win others to his ways."
A light mist had begun to fall. Owen sat on the crate, trembling,
frightened, alone. Only a short time ago he had been reluctant to answer
even the most basic question in a meaningful way; now Richard had him
speaking openly.
Friedrich stroked the jaw of one of the horses as he quietly watched.
Jennsen sat on a rock, Betty lying at her feet. Tom stood behind Jenn-sen, a
hand resting gently on her shoulder, but keeping an eye on the man Kahlan
had touched with her power. That man sat off to the side, listening
dispassionately as he waited to be commanded. Cara stood beside Kahlan, ever
watchful for trouble, but obviously caught up in the unfolding story of
Owen's homeland, even if she was having a hard time holding her tongue.
For her part, Kahlan, while she could sympathize with Cara's difficulty
in holding her tongue, was transfixed by the tale of a mysterious empire
that Richard casually, effortlessly, drew from this man who had poisoned
him. She couldn't imagine where Richard was going with his matter-of-fact
questions. What did this empire's forms of punishment have to do with
Richard being poisoned? It was clear to her, though, that Richard knew where
he was headed, and that the path he was following was wide and sunlit.
Richard paused before Owen. "What do you do in those instances?-- when
you can't reform someone who has become a danger to everyone. What do an
enlightened people do with that kind of person?"
Owen spoke in a soft voice that carried clearly in the misty
early-morning hush. "We banish them."
"Banish them. You mean, you send them into the boundary?"
Owen nodded.
"But you said that going into the boundary is death. You couldn't
simply send them into the boundary or you would be executing them. You must
have a place to send them through. A special place. A place where you can
banish them, without killing them, but a place where you know they can never
return to harm your people."
Owen nodded again. "Yes. There is such a place. The pass that is
blocked by the boundary is steep and treacherous. But there is a path that
leads down into the boundary. Those ancient ones who protected us by placing
that boundary placed the path as well. The path is said to allow passage
out. Because of the way the mountain descends, it is a difficult path, but
it can be followed."
"And just because of how difficult it is, it's not possible to climb
back up? To enter the Bandakaran Empire?"
Owen chewed his lower lip. "It goes down through a terrible place, a
narrow passageway through the boundary, a lifeless land, where it is said
that death itself lies to each side. The person banished is given no water
or food. He must find his own, on the other side, or perish. We place
watchers at the entrance of the path, where they wait to be sure that the
one banished has gone through and is not lingering in the boundary only to
return. The watchers wait and watch for several weeks to be sure that the
one banished has gone beyond in search of water and food, in search of his
new life away from his people.
"Once beyond, the forest is a terrible place, a frightening place, with
roots that descend over the edge like a land of snakes. The path takes you
down under that cascade of roots and running water. Then, even lower, you
find yourself in a strange land where the trees are far above, reaching for
the distant light, but you see only their roots twisting and stretching down
into the darkness toward the ground. It is said that once you see that
forest of roots towering all around you, you have made it through the
boundary and the pass through the mountains.
"There is said to be no way to enter our land from that other side--to
use the pass to return to our empire.
"Once banished, there is no redemption."
Richard moved up close beside Owen and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What did you do to be banished, Owen?"
Owen sank forward, putting his face in his hands as he finally broke
down sobbing.
Richard left his hand on Owen's shoulder as he spoke in a compassionate
tone. "Tell me what happened, Owen. Tell me in your own way."
Kahlan was startled to hear, after all Owen had said, that he had
become one of the banished. She saw Jennsen's jaw fall open. Cara lifted an
eyebrow.
Kahlan could see that Richard's hand on Owen's shoulder was an
emotional lifeline for the man. He finally sat up, sniffling back the tears.
He wiped his nose on his sleeve.
He looked up at Richard. "Should I tell you the whole story? All of
it?"
"Yes. I'd like to hear it all, from the beginning."
Kahlan was struck at how much Richard reminded her, at that moment, of
his grandfather, Zedd, and the way Zedd always wanted to hear the whole
story.
"Well, I was happy among my people, with them all around me. They held
me to their breast when I was young. I was always safe in their welcoming
arms. While I knew of other children who became unruly and were put out as
punishment, I never did anything to be put out. I hungered to learn to be
like my people. They taught me the ways of enlightenment. For a time I
served my people as the Wise One.
"Later, my people were pleased with how enlightened I was, how I
embraced them all, and so they made me the speaker of our town. I traveled
to nearby towns to speak the words of what the people of my town all
believed as one. I went to our great cities for the same reason. I was
always happiest, though, when I was home with my closest people.
"I fell in love with a woman from my town. Her name is Marilee."
Owen stared off into his memories. Richard didn't rush him, but waited
patiently until he began again at his own pace.
"It was spring, a little more than two years ago, when we fell joyfully
in love. Marilee and I spent time talking, holding hands, and, when we
could, sitting together while among all the others. Among all the others,
though, I only had eyes for Marilee. She only had eyes for me.
"When we were with others, it felt like we were alone in the world,
Marilee and I, and the world belonged to us alone, that only we had the eyes
to see all its hidden beauty. It is wrong to feel this way, to be so alone
in our hearts is to be selfish and to think our eyes can see so clearly is
sinful pride, but we could not help ourselves. The trees blossomed just for
us. The water in the streams burbled their music just for us. The moon rose
for us alone." Owen slowly shook his head. "You could not understand how it
was ... how we felt."
"I understand quite well how it was," Richard assured him in a quiet
voice.
Owen glanced up at Richard; then his gaze moved to Kahlan. She nodded
to him that it was so. His brow twitched with wonder. He looked away then,
perhaps, Kahlan thought, in guilt.
"Well," Owen said, going back to his story, "I was the speaker of our
town--the one who speaks what all decide that must be decided as being true.
I also sometimes helped other people resolve questions of what is right
according to the tenets of an advanced culture." Owen flicked his hand in a
self-conscious manner. "As I said, I once served my people as the Wise One,
so the people trusted me."
Richard just nodded, not interrupting, even though Kahlan knew that he
didn't quite understand the meaning of many of the details of what Owen was
saying any more than she did. The gist of the story, though, was becoming
all too clear.
"I asked Marilee if she would be my wife, if she would marry me and no
other. She said that it was the happiest day of her life, to be asked by me,
for I said I wanted no other but her. It was the happiest day of my life
when she said she would have me as her husband.
"Everyone was very pleased. Everyone loved us both, and kept us
sheltered in their arms for a long time to show their joy. As we sat
together with everyone, we all talked about the plans for the wedding and
how much we would all be pleased that Marilee and I would be husband and
wife and bring children among our people."
Owen stared off in his thoughts. It seemed that he might have forgotten
that he'd stopped speaking.
"So, was it a grand wedding?" Richard finally prompted.
Owen still stared off. "The men of the Order came. That was when we
first realized that the seal, that had protected our people since the
beginning times, had failed. There was no longer a barrier protecting us.
"Our empire was now naked to savages."
Kahlan knew that what she had done had caused the boundary to fail,
resulting in these people being defenseless. She had had no choice, but that
didn't make it any easier to hear.
"They came to our town, where I was speaker. Our town, like others, has
walls all around; those who gave us our name, Bandakar, proclaimed that
towns should be built such as this. It was wise of them to tell us this. The
walls protect us from the beasts of the forests, make us safe, without
having to harm any creatures.
"The men of the Order set up a camp outside our walls. There was really
no place for them to stay in the town--we have no accommodations to house so
many people because we never have great numbers of visitors from other
towns. Worse, I was fearful of having such men as they looked sleeping under
our roof with us. It was wrong to have such fear; it is my failing, not
theirs, I know, but I had the fear.
"Since I was the speaker for my town, I went out to their camp with
food and offerings. I was filled with my sinful failing of being afraid of
them. They were big, some with long, dark, greasy, tangled hair, some with
shaved heads, many with filthy beards of coarse hair--none of them with fair
sun-golden hair like our people. It was shocking to see them wearing hides
of animals, leather plates, chains and metal, and straps with sharp studs.
Hanging on their belts, they all carried vicious-looking implements the
likes of which I had never in my life imagined, but which I later learned
were weapons.
"I told these strange men that they were welcome to share what we had,
that we would honor them. I told them that they were invited to sit with us,
to share their words with us."
Everyone waited in silence, not wanting to say a word as tears ran down
Owen's face and dripped off his jaw.
"The men of the Order did not sit with us. They did not share their
words with us. Though I spoke to them, they acted as if I were not worthy of
their recognition, other than to grin at me as if they intended to eat me.
"I sought to allay their fears, since it is the fear of others that
causes hostility. I assured the men that we were peaceful and intended them
no ill will. I told them that we would do our best to accommodate them among
us.
"The man who was their speaker, a commander he called himself, spoke to
me then. He told me that his name was Luchan. His shoulders were twice as
wide as mine, even though he was no taller than me. This man, Luchan, said
that he did not believe me. I was horrified to hear this. He said that he
thought my people meant him harm. He accused us of wishing to kill his men.
I was shaken that he would think such a thing of us, especially after I had
told him of our open welcome to his men. I was shaken to know that I had
done something to cause him to feel we were threatening to him and his men.
I assured him of our desire to be peaceful with them.
"Luchan smiled at me then, not a smile of happiness, not a smile like I
had ever seen before. He said that they were going to burn down our town and
kill all the people in it to prevent us from attacking his men as they
slept. I begged him to believe our peaceful ways, to sit with us and share
his worries and we would do what we needed to do to dispel such doubts and
show him our love of him for being our fellow man.
"Luchan said, then, that he would not burn down our town and kill us
all upon a condition, as he called it. He said that if I would surrender my
woman to him as a token of my sincerity and goodwill he would then believe
our words. He said that if, on the other hand, I failed to send her out to
him, what happened would be my fault, would be on my head, for not
cooperating with them, for not showing my sincerity and goodwill toward
them.
"I went back to hear the words of my people. Everyone agreed and said
that I must do this--that I must send Marilee out to the men of the Order so
that they would not burn down our town and murder everyone. I asked them not
to decide so quickly, and offered the idea that we could close the gates in
the wall to keep the men from coming in and harming us. My people said that
men such as these would find a way to break the wall, and then they would
murder everyone for shutting our gates and shaming them with our bigotry
toward them. The people all spoke up loudly that I must show the man Luchan
goodwill and our peaceful intent, that I must allay his fears of us.
"I never felt so alone among my people. I could not go against the word
of everyone, for it is taught that only the voices of people joined together
in one voice can be wise enough to know the true way. No one person can know
what is right. Only consensus can make a thing right.
"My knees trembled as I stood before Marilee. I heard myself ask if she
wished me to do as the men wanted--as our people wanted. I told her that I
would run away with her if she would wish it. She wept as she said that she
would not hear such sinful talk from me, for it would mean the death of
everyone else.
"She said that she must go to the men of the Order to appease them or
there would be violence. She told me that she would tell them of our
peaceful ways and thus gentle them toward us.
"I was proud of Marilee for upholding the highest values of our people.
I wanted to die for being proud of such a thing as would take her from me.
"I kissed Marilee a last time, but I could not stop my tears. I held
her in my arms and we wept together.
"Then, I took her out to the man who was their commander, Luchan. He
had a thick black beard, a shaved head, and a ring through one ear and one
nostril. He said that I had made a wise choice. His sundarkened arms were
nearly as big around as Marilee's waist. His big filthy hand took Marilee by
her arm and bore her away with him as he turned back and told me to 'scurry
back' to my town, to my people. His men laughed at me as they watched me go
back up the road.
"The men of the Order left my town and my people alone. We had peace I
had purchased with Marilee.
"I had no peace in my heart.
"For a time, the men of the Order were gone from our town. They
returned, then, one afternoon, and called for me to come out. I asked Luchan
about Marilee, if she was well, if she was happy. Luchan turned his head and
spat, then said he didn't know, that he never asked her. I was worried, and
asked if she spoke with him of our peaceful ways, assured him of our
innocent intent toward him. He said that when he was with women he wasn't
much interested in them for their talking.
"He winked at me. Though I had never seen anyone wink in such a
fashion, I knew his meaning.
"I was very frightened for Marilee, but I reminded myself that nothing
is real, that I could not really know anything from what I was hearing. I
was only hearing what this one man said of things, as he saw them, and I
knew that I was only sensing part of the world. I could not know reality
from my eyes and ears alone.
"Luchan said, then, that I should open the town gates lest they think
we were acting in a hostile way toward them. Luchan said that if we failed
to do as he asked, it would begin a cycle of violence.
"I went back and spoke his words to all the people gathered around me.
My people all spoke in one voice, and said that we must open the gates and
invite them in to prove that we held no hostility, no prejudice, toward the
men.
"The men of the Order came in through those gates we let stand wide for
them and seized nearly all the women, from those still the age of girls to
grandmothers. I stood with the other men, begging them to leave our women
be, to leave us be. I told them that we had agreed to their demands to prove
to them that we meant them no harm, but it did no good. They would not
listen.
"I told Luchan, then, that I had sent Marilee to him as his condition
for peace. I told him that they must honor their agreement. Luchan and his
men laughed.
"I cannot say if what I saw then was real. Reality is in the realm of
fate, and we, in this place we think we know as the world, cannot know it in
full truth. That day, fate swept down on my people; we had no say in it. We
know that we must not fight against fate, for it has already been
foreordained by the true reality we cannot see.
"I watched as our women were dragged away. I watched, unable to do
anything, as they screamed our names, as they reached out for us, as the
hands of those big men held our women and bore them away from us. I had
never heard such screams as I heard that day."
The overcast seemed as if it would soon brush the tops of the trees. In
the thick silence, Kahlan heard a bird in the bristlecone pines singing.
Owen was alone, off in his solitary world of terrible memories. Richard
stood, arms folded, watching the man, but saying nothing.
"I went to other towns," Owen finally said. "In a couple of places, the
Order had been there before me. The men of the Order did much the same to
those towns as they had done to my town; they took the women. In some places
they also took a few men.
"In other places I went, the Order had not come yet. As the speaker of
my town, I told them of what had befallen my town and I urged others to do
something. They were angry with me and said it was wrong to resist, that to
resist was to give in to violence, to become no better than the savages.
They urged me to renounce my outspoken ways and to heed the wisdom of the
joined voices of our people that had brought enlightenment and thousands of
years of peace. They told me that I was only looking at events through my
limited eyes, and not the better judgment of the group.
"I went then to one of our important cities and told them again that
the seal on the pass was broken and that the Imperial Order was upon us, and
that something must be done. I urged them to listen to me and to consider
what we could do to protect our people.
"Because I was so inconsiderately assertive, the assembly of speakers
took me to the Wise One so that I might have his counsel. It is a great
honor to have the words of the Wise One. The Wise One told me that I must
forgive those who had done these things against my people, if we were to end
the violence.
"The Wise One said that the anger and hostility shown by the men of the
Order was a mark of their inner pain, a cry for help, and they must be shown
compassion and understanding. I should have been humbled by such clear
wisdom as could only come from the Wise One, but instead I spoke out of my
wish for Marilee and all the other people to be returned from such men, and
for the speakers to help me in this.
"The Wise One said that Marilee would find her own happiness without me
and that I was guilty of selfishness for wanting to keep her for myself. He
said that fate had come for the other people and it was not my place to make
demands of fate.
"I asserted to the speakers and the Wise One that the men of the Order
had not upheld the agreement made by Luchan for Marilee to be sent to them.
The Wise One said that Marilee had acted properly by going in peace to the
men so that the cycle of violence would end. He said that it was selfish and
sinful for me to put my wants above peace she selflessly worked toward and
that my attitude toward them was probably what had provoked the men to
anger.
"I asked what I was to do, when I had acted honestly but they had not.
The Wise One said that I was wrong to condemn men I did not know, men I had
not first forgiven, or tried to embrace, or even to understand. He said that
I must encourage them in the ways of peace by throwing myself before them
and begging them to forgive me for acting in a way that kindled their inner
pain by reminding them of past wrongs done to them.
"I told the Wise One, then, in front of all the other speakers, that I
did not want to forgive these men or to embrace these men, but that I wanted
to cast them out of our lives.
"I was given a denunciation."
Richard handed Owen a cup of water but said nothing. Owen sipped at the
water without seeing it.
"The gathering of speakers commanded me to go back to my town and seek
the advice of those among whom I lived, commanding that I ask my people to
counsel me back to our ways. I went back intending to redeem myself, only to
discover that it had become worse than before.
"Now, the Order had returned to take whatever they wanted from the
town--food and goods. We would have given them whatever they wanted, but
they never asked, they just took. More of our men had been taken away,
too--some of the boys and some of those who were young and strong. Other
men, who had in some way offended the dignity of the men of the Order, had
been murdered.
"People I knew stood staring with empty eyes at blood where our friends
had died. In other such places, people gathered to mound remembrances over
the blood. These places had become sacred shrines and people knelt there to
pray. The children would not stop crying. No one would counsel me.
"Everyone in my town trembled behind doors, but they cast their eyes
down and opened those doors when the men of the Order knocked, lest we
offend them.
"I could not stand to be in our town any longer. I ran to the country,
even though I was terrified that I would be alone. There, in the hills, I
found other men, selfish as I, hiding in fear for their lives. Together, we
decided to try to do something, to try to bring an end to the misery. We
resolved to restore peace.
"At first, we sent representatives to speak with the men of the Order,
to let them know that we meant them no harm, and that we only sought peace
with them, and to ask what we could do to satisfy them. The men of the Order
hung these men by their ankles from poles at the edge of our town and
skinned them alive.
"I knew these men all my life, these men who had counseled me, advised
me, broken fasts with me, sheltered me in their arms with joy when I had
told them Marilee and I wanted to be wed. The men of the Order left these
poor men to hang by their ankles as they screamed in agony in the hot summer
sun, where the black-tipped races came and found them.
"I reminded myself that what I saw that day was not real, and that I
should not believe such sights, that possibly my eyes were deceiving me as
punishment for having improper thoughts, and that my mind could not possibly
know if this sight was real or an illusion.
"Not every man that had gone to speak with the men of the Order was
killed. A few of our men were sent back to us with word from the Order. They
said that if we did not come down out of the hills and return to their rule
in our town, to show that we did not intend to attack them, then they would
begin skinning a dozen people a day, and hanging them on poles for the
races, until either we returned to demonstrate our peaceful intent, or until
every last person left in the town was skinned alive.
"Many of our men wept, unable to stand to think that they would be the
cause of a cycle of violence, so they went back to the town to show that
they intended no harm.
"Not all of us went back. A few of us remained in the hills. Since most
returned, and the Order had no count of us, they thought all had complied
with their command.
"Those few of us who were left in the hills hid, living off the nuts,
fruits, and berries we could find or the food we snuck back and stole. We
slowly gathered together supplies to see us through. I told the other men
with me that we should find out what the Order was doing with our people
they had taken away. Since the men of the Order didn't know us, we could
sometimes mingle in with people working the fields or tending to animals and
sneak back into our town without the Order knowing who we were--without
knowing that we were men from the hills. Over the next months, we followed
and watched the men of the Order.
"The children had been sent away, but the men of the Order had taken
all the women to a place they built--an encampment, they called it--that
they fortified against attack."
Owen put his face in his hands again as he spoke through sobs. "They
were using our women as breeding stock. They sought to have them bear
children--as many children as they could birth--children of their soldiers.
Some women were already pregnant. Most of those who weren't already pregnant
became pregnant. Over the next year and a half, many children were born.
They were nursed for a time, and then they were all sent away as their
mothers were gotten pregnant again.
"I don't know where these children were taken--somewhere beyond our
empire. The men who had been taken from the towns were also taken away
beyond our empire.
"The men of the Order did not watch their captives well, since our
people shunned violence, so a couple of men escaped and ran to the hills,
where they found us. They told us that the Order had taken them to see the
women, and told them that if they did not do as they were told, if they did
not follow all the orders they were given, then all these women before them
would die--that they would be skinned alive. These men who escaped did not
know where they were to be taken, or what it was they were to do, only that
if they did not follow the instructions given them, then they would be the
cause of the violence to our women.
"After a year and a half of hiding, of meeting with others, we learned
that the Order had spread to other places in our empire, taken other towns
and cities. The Wise One and the speakers went into hiding. We discovered
that some towns and cities had invited the Order to come in, to be among
them, in an attempt to appease them and keep them from doing harm.
"No matter how hard our people tried, their concessions failed to
placate the belligerence of the men of the Order. We could not understand
why this was true.
"In some of the largest cities, though, it was different. The people
there had listened to the speakers of the Order and had come to believe that
the cause of the Imperial Order was the same as our cause--to bring an end
to abuse and injustice. The Order convinced these people that they abhorred
violence, that they had been enlightened as were our people, but they had to
turn to violence to defeat those who would oppress us all. They said that
they were champions of our people's cause of enlightenment. The people there
rejoiced that they were at last in the hands of saviors who would spread our
words of enlightenment to the savages who did not yet live by peace."
Richard, a thunderstorm building, could hold his tongue no longer. "And
even after all the brutality, these people believed the words of the
Imperial Order?"
Owen spread his hands. "The people in those places were swayed by the
words of the Order--that they were fighting for the same ideals as we lived
by. They told our people in those cities that they had only acted as they
did because my town and some of the other places like it had sided with the
savages from the north--with the D'Haran Empire.
"I had heard this name before--the D'Haran Empire. During the year and
a half that I lived in the hills with the other men, I sometimes traveled
out of our land, out into the surrounding places, to see what I could
discover that might help us to cast the Imperial Order out of Bandakar.
While I was out of my land, I went to some of the cities in the Old World,
as I learned it was called. In one place, Altur'Rang, I heard whispers of a
great man from the north, from the D'Haran Empire, who brought freedom.
"Other of my men also went out to other places. When we returned, we
all told each other what we had seen, what we had heard. All those who came
back told of the same thing, told of hearing of one called Lord Rahl, and
his wife, the Mother Confessor, who fought the Imperial Order.
"Then, we learned where the Wise One was being kept safe, as were most
of our greatest speakers. It was in our greatest city, a place where the
Order had not yet come. The Order was busy with other places and so they
were in no hurry. My people were going nowhere--they had nowhere to go.
"The men who were with me wanted me to be their speaker, to go to talk
with these great speakers, to convince them that we must do something to
stop the Imperial Order and cast them out of Bandakar.
"I journeyed to the great city, a place I had never been before, and I
was inspired at seeing a place that such a great culture as ours had built.
A culture about to be destroyed, if I could not convince these great
speakers and the Wise One to think of something to do to stop the Order.
"I spoke before them with great urgency. I told them of all the Order
had done. I told them of the men I had in hiding, waiting for word of what
they were to do.
"The great speakers said that I cannot know the true nature of the
Order from what I and a few men had seen--that the Imperial Order was a vast
nation and we saw only a tiny speck of their people. They said that men
cannot do such cruel acts as I described because it would cause them to
shrink back in horror before they could complete them. To prove it, they
suggested that I try to skin one of them. I admitted that I could not, but I
told them that I had seen the men of the Order do this.
"The speakers scorned my insistence that it was real. They said I must
always keep in mind that reality is not for us to know. They said that the
men of the Imperial Order were probably frightened that we might be a
violent people, and simply wanted to test our resolve by tricking us into
believing that the things I described were real so that they could see how
we reacted--if peace was really our way, or if we would attack them.
"The great speakers said, then, that I could not know if I really saw
all the things I said, and that even if I did, I could not judge if they
were for the bad, or the good--that I was not the person to judge the
reasons of men I did not know, that to do so would be to believe that I was
above them, and to put myself above them would be an act of prejudiced
hostility.
"I could only think of all the things I had seen, of the men with me
who all agreed that we must convince the great speakers to act to preserve
our empire. I could only see in my mind the face of Luchan. And then, I
thought of Marilee in the hands of this man. I thought of the sacrifice she
had made, and how her life was cast away into this horror for nothing.
"I stood up before the great speakers and screamed that they were
evil."
Cara snorted a laugh. "Seems you can tell what's real, when you put
your mind to it."
Richard shot her a withering glare.
Owen glanced up and blinked. His thoughts had been so distant as he
told his story that he hadn't really heard her. He looked up at Richard.
"That was when they banished me," he said.
"But the boundary seal had failed," Richard said. "You had already come
and gone through the pass. How could they enforce a banishment with the
boundary down?"
Owen waved dismissively. "They do not need the wall of death.
Banishment is in a way a sentence of death--the death of the person as a
citizen of Bandakar. My name would be known throughout the empire, at least
what was left of it, and every person would shun me. I would be turned away
from every door. I was one of the banished. No one would want to have any
contact with me. I was now an outcast. It does not matter that they could
not put me beyond the barrier; they put me beyond my people. That was worse.
"I went back to my men in the hills to collect my things and confess to
them that I had been banished. I was going to go out beyond our homeland, as
I had been commanded by the will of our people through our great speakers.
"But my men, those in the hills, they would not see me go. They said
that the banishment was wrong. These men had seen the things I had seen.
They had wives, mothers, daughters, sisters who had been taken away. They
all had seen their friends murdered, seen the men skinned alive and left to
suffer in agony as they died, seen the races come to circle over them as
they hung on those poles. They said that since all our eyes had seen these
things, then these things must be true, must be real.
"They all said that we had gone into the hills because we love our land
and want to restore the peace we once had. They said that the great speakers
were the ones whose eyes did not see and they were condemning our people to
murder at the hands of savage men and those of our people who lived to a
cruel life under the rule of the Imperial Order, to be used as breeding
stock or as slaves.
"I was shocked that these men would not reject me for being
banished--that they wanted me to stay with them.
"It was then that we decided that we would be the ones to do something,
to come up with the plan we always wanted the speakers to decide. When I
asked what would be our plan, everyone said the same thing.
"They all said that we must get Lord Rahl to come and give us freedom.
They all spoke with one voice.
"We decided, then, what we would do. Some men said that one such as the
Lord Rahl would come to cast out the Order when we asked.
Others thought you might not be willing, since you are unenlightened
and not of our ways, not of our people. When we considered that possibility,
we decided that we must have a way to insure you would have to come, should
you refuse us.
"Since I was banished, I said that it was upon me to do this thing.
Except to live in the hills with my men, I could have no life among our
people unless we cast out the Imperial Order and our ways were restored to
us. I told the men that I did not know where I could find the Lord Rahl, but
that I would not give up until I did so.
"First, though, one of the men, an older man who had spent his life
working with herbs and cures, made me the poison I put into your waterskin.
He made me the antidote as well. He told me how the poison worked, and how
it could be counteracted, since none of us wished to consider that it would
come to murder, even of an unenlightened man."
By the sidelong look Richard gave her, Kahlan knew that he wanted her
to hold her tongue, and knew that she was having difficulty doing so. She
redoubled her effort.
"I was worried about how I would find you," Owen said to Richard, "but
I knew I had to. Before I could go in search of you, though, I had to hide
the rest of the antidote, as was our plan.
"While in a city where the Order had won the people to their side, I
heard some people at a market say that it was a great honor that the very
man who had come to their city was the most important man among all those of
the Imperial Order in Bandakar. The thought struck me that this man might
know something of the man the Order hated most--Lord Rahl.
"I stayed in the city for several days, watching the place where this
man was said to be. I watched the soldiers come and go. I saw that they
sometimes took people in with them, and then later the people came back out.
"One day I saw people come back out and they did not appear to be
harmed, so I made my way close to them to hear what they might say. I heard
them talk that they had seen the great man himself. I could not hear much of
what they said of their visit inside, but none said that they were hurt.
"And then I saw the soldiers come out, and I suspected that they might
be going to get more people to take them in to see this great man, so I went
before them into a central gathering square. I waited, then, near the open
isles between the public benches. The soldiers rushed in and gathered up a
small crowd of people and I was swept up with the others.
"I was terrified of what would happen to me, but I thought this might
be my only chance to go in the building with this important man, my only
chance to see what he looked like, to see the place where he was so I could
know where to sneak back and listen, as I had learned to do when living in
the hills with my men. I had resolved to do this to see if I could learn any
information on Lord Rahl. Still, I was trembling with worry when they took
us all into the building and down halls and up stairs to the top floor.
"I feared that I was being led to the slaughter and wanted to run, but
Children, for example. Where I come from, children can sometimes become
rowdy. Children where you come from must sometimes become rowdy, too."
Owen shrugged a bit with one shoulder. "Well, yes, I guess so. There
were times when children misbehave and become unruly."
"And what do you do with such children?"
Owen cleared his throat, plainly uncomfortable. "Well, they are... put
out of their home for a time."
"Put out of their home for a time," Richard repeated. He lifted his
arms in a questioning shrug. "The children I know will usually be happy to
be put outside. They simply go play."
Owen shook his head emphatically at the serious nature of the matter.
"We are different. From the time we are born, we are together with others.
We are all very close. We depend on one another. We cherish one another. We
spend all our waking hours with others. We cook and wash and work together.
We sleep in a sleeping house, together. Ours is an enlightened life of human
contact, human closeness. There is no higher value than being together."
"So," Richard asked, feigning a puzzled look, "when one of you-- a
child--is put out, that is a cause of unhappiness?"
Owen swallowed as a tear ran down his cheek. "There could be nothing
worse. To be put out, to be closed off from others, is the worst horror we
can endure. To be forced out into the cold cruelty of the world is a
nightmare."
Just talking about such a punishment, thinking about it, was making
Owen start to tremble.
"And that's when, sometimes, the races get such children," Richard said
in a compassionate tone. "When they're alone and vulnerable."
With the back of his hand Owen wiped the tear from his cheek. "When a
child must be put out to be punished, we take all possible precautions. We
never put them out at night because that is when the races usually hunt.
Children are put out for punishment only in the day. But when we are away
from others, we are vulnerable to all the terrors and cruelties of the
world. To be alone is a nightmare.
"We would do anything to avoid such punishment. Any child who
misbehaves and is put out for a while will not likely misbehave again
anytime soon. There is no greater joy than to finally be welcomed back in
with our friends and family."
"So, for your people, banishment is the greatest punishment."
Owen stared into the distance. "Of course."
"Where I come from, we all got along pretty well, too. We enjoyed each
other's company and had great fun when many people would gather. We valued
our times together. When we're away for a time, we inquire about all the
people we know and haven't seen in a while."
Owen smiled expectantly. "Then you understand."
Richard nodded, returning the smile. "But occasionally there will be
someone who won't behave, even when they're an adult. We try everything we
can, but, sometimes, someone does something wrong--something they know is
wrong. They might lie or steal. Even worse, at times someone will
deliberately hurt another person--beat someone when robbing them, or rape a
woman, or even murder someone."
Owen wouldn't look up at Richard. He stared at the ground.
As he spoke, Richard paced slowly before the man. "When someone does
something like that where you come from, Owen, what do your people do? How
do an enlightened people handle such horrible crimes some of your people
commit against others?"
"We attack the root cause of such behavior from the beginning," Owen
was quick to answer. "We share all we have to make sure that everyone has
what they need so that they don't have to steal. People steal because they
feel the hurt of others acting superior. We show these people that we are no
better than they and so they need not harbor such fears of others. We teach
them to be enlightened and reject all such behavior."
Richard shrugged nonchalantly. Kahlan would have thought that he would
be ready to strangle the answers out of Owen, but, instead, he was behaving
in a calm, understanding manner. She had seen him act this way before. He
was the Seeker of Truth, rightfully named by the First Wizard himself.
Richard was doing what Seekers did: find the truth. Sometimes he used his
sword, sometimes words.
Even though this was the way Richard often disarmed people when he
questioned them, in this case it struck Kahlan that such a manner was
precisely what Owen would be most accustomed to, most comfortable with. This
gentle manner was pulling answers from the man and filling in a lot of
information Kahlan had never thought of trying to get.
She had already learned that she was the cause of what had befallen
these people.
"We both know, Owen, that, try as we might, such efforts to change
people's ways don't always work. Some people won't change. There are times
when people do evil things. Even among civilized people, there are some who
will not behave in a civil manner despite all your best efforts. What's
worse is that, if allowed to continue, these few jeopardize the whole
community.
"After all, if you have a rapist among you, you can't allow him to
continue to prey on women. If a man committed murder, you couldn't allow
such a man to threaten the empire with his ways, now could you? An advanced
culture, especially, can't be faulted for wanting to stop such dangers to
enlightened people.
"But you've shunned all forms of violence, so you can hardly punish
such a man physically--you couldn't put a murderer to death--not if you've
truly rejected violence unconditionally. What do you do with such men? How
does an enlightened people handle grave problems, such as murder?"
Owen was sweating. It seemed not to have occurred to him to deny the
existence of murderers--Richard had already led him past that, had already
established the existence of such men. Before Owen could think to object,
Richard was already beyond, to the next step.
"Well," Owen said, swallowing, "as you say, we are an enlightened
people. If someone does something to harm another, they are given ... a
denunciation."
"A denunciation. You mean, you condemn their actions, but not the man.
You give him a second chance."
"Yes, that's right." Owen wiped sweat from his brow as he glanced up at
Richard. "We work very hard to reform people who make such mistakes and are
given a denunciation. We recognize that their actions are a cry for help, so
we counsel them in the ways of enlightenment in order to help them to see
that they are hurting all our people when they hurt one, and that since they
are one of our beloved people, they are only hurting themselves when they
hurt another. We show such people compassion and understanding."
Kahlan caught Cara's arm, and with a stern look convinced her to remain
silent.
Richard paced slowly before Owen, nodding as if he thought that sounded
reasonable. "I understand. You put a great deal of effort into making them
see that they can never do such a thing again."
Owen nodded, relieved that Richard understood.
"But then there are times when one of those who has received a
denunciation, and has been counseled to the very best of your ability, goes
out and does the same crime again--or one even worse.
"It's clear, then, that he refuses to be reformed and that he's a
threat to public order, safety, and confidence. Left to his own devises,
such a person, by himself, will bring the very thing you unconditionally
reject--violence--to stalk among your people and win others to his ways."
A light mist had begun to fall. Owen sat on the crate, trembling,
frightened, alone. Only a short time ago he had been reluctant to answer
even the most basic question in a meaningful way; now Richard had him
speaking openly.
Friedrich stroked the jaw of one of the horses as he quietly watched.
Jennsen sat on a rock, Betty lying at her feet. Tom stood behind Jenn-sen, a
hand resting gently on her shoulder, but keeping an eye on the man Kahlan
had touched with her power. That man sat off to the side, listening
dispassionately as he waited to be commanded. Cara stood beside Kahlan, ever
watchful for trouble, but obviously caught up in the unfolding story of
Owen's homeland, even if she was having a hard time holding her tongue.
For her part, Kahlan, while she could sympathize with Cara's difficulty
in holding her tongue, was transfixed by the tale of a mysterious empire
that Richard casually, effortlessly, drew from this man who had poisoned
him. She couldn't imagine where Richard was going with his matter-of-fact
questions. What did this empire's forms of punishment have to do with
Richard being poisoned? It was clear to her, though, that Richard knew where
he was headed, and that the path he was following was wide and sunlit.
Richard paused before Owen. "What do you do in those instances?-- when
you can't reform someone who has become a danger to everyone. What do an
enlightened people do with that kind of person?"
Owen spoke in a soft voice that carried clearly in the misty
early-morning hush. "We banish them."
"Banish them. You mean, you send them into the boundary?"
Owen nodded.
"But you said that going into the boundary is death. You couldn't
simply send them into the boundary or you would be executing them. You must
have a place to send them through. A special place. A place where you can
banish them, without killing them, but a place where you know they can never
return to harm your people."
Owen nodded again. "Yes. There is such a place. The pass that is
blocked by the boundary is steep and treacherous. But there is a path that
leads down into the boundary. Those ancient ones who protected us by placing
that boundary placed the path as well. The path is said to allow passage
out. Because of the way the mountain descends, it is a difficult path, but
it can be followed."
"And just because of how difficult it is, it's not possible to climb
back up? To enter the Bandakaran Empire?"
Owen chewed his lower lip. "It goes down through a terrible place, a
narrow passageway through the boundary, a lifeless land, where it is said
that death itself lies to each side. The person banished is given no water
or food. He must find his own, on the other side, or perish. We place
watchers at the entrance of the path, where they wait to be sure that the
one banished has gone through and is not lingering in the boundary only to
return. The watchers wait and watch for several weeks to be sure that the
one banished has gone beyond in search of water and food, in search of his
new life away from his people.
"Once beyond, the forest is a terrible place, a frightening place, with
roots that descend over the edge like a land of snakes. The path takes you
down under that cascade of roots and running water. Then, even lower, you
find yourself in a strange land where the trees are far above, reaching for
the distant light, but you see only their roots twisting and stretching down
into the darkness toward the ground. It is said that once you see that
forest of roots towering all around you, you have made it through the
boundary and the pass through the mountains.
"There is said to be no way to enter our land from that other side--to
use the pass to return to our empire.
"Once banished, there is no redemption."
Richard moved up close beside Owen and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What did you do to be banished, Owen?"
Owen sank forward, putting his face in his hands as he finally broke
down sobbing.
Richard left his hand on Owen's shoulder as he spoke in a compassionate
tone. "Tell me what happened, Owen. Tell me in your own way."
Kahlan was startled to hear, after all Owen had said, that he had
become one of the banished. She saw Jennsen's jaw fall open. Cara lifted an
eyebrow.
Kahlan could see that Richard's hand on Owen's shoulder was an
emotional lifeline for the man. He finally sat up, sniffling back the tears.
He wiped his nose on his sleeve.
He looked up at Richard. "Should I tell you the whole story? All of
it?"
"Yes. I'd like to hear it all, from the beginning."
Kahlan was struck at how much Richard reminded her, at that moment, of
his grandfather, Zedd, and the way Zedd always wanted to hear the whole
story.
"Well, I was happy among my people, with them all around me. They held
me to their breast when I was young. I was always safe in their welcoming
arms. While I knew of other children who became unruly and were put out as
punishment, I never did anything to be put out. I hungered to learn to be
like my people. They taught me the ways of enlightenment. For a time I
served my people as the Wise One.
"Later, my people were pleased with how enlightened I was, how I
embraced them all, and so they made me the speaker of our town. I traveled
to nearby towns to speak the words of what the people of my town all
believed as one. I went to our great cities for the same reason. I was
always happiest, though, when I was home with my closest people.
"I fell in love with a woman from my town. Her name is Marilee."
Owen stared off into his memories. Richard didn't rush him, but waited
patiently until he began again at his own pace.
"It was spring, a little more than two years ago, when we fell joyfully
in love. Marilee and I spent time talking, holding hands, and, when we
could, sitting together while among all the others. Among all the others,
though, I only had eyes for Marilee. She only had eyes for me.
"When we were with others, it felt like we were alone in the world,
Marilee and I, and the world belonged to us alone, that only we had the eyes
to see all its hidden beauty. It is wrong to feel this way, to be so alone
in our hearts is to be selfish and to think our eyes can see so clearly is
sinful pride, but we could not help ourselves. The trees blossomed just for
us. The water in the streams burbled their music just for us. The moon rose
for us alone." Owen slowly shook his head. "You could not understand how it
was ... how we felt."
"I understand quite well how it was," Richard assured him in a quiet
voice.
Owen glanced up at Richard; then his gaze moved to Kahlan. She nodded
to him that it was so. His brow twitched with wonder. He looked away then,
perhaps, Kahlan thought, in guilt.
"Well," Owen said, going back to his story, "I was the speaker of our
town--the one who speaks what all decide that must be decided as being true.
I also sometimes helped other people resolve questions of what is right
according to the tenets of an advanced culture." Owen flicked his hand in a
self-conscious manner. "As I said, I once served my people as the Wise One,
so the people trusted me."
Richard just nodded, not interrupting, even though Kahlan knew that he
didn't quite understand the meaning of many of the details of what Owen was
saying any more than she did. The gist of the story, though, was becoming
all too clear.
"I asked Marilee if she would be my wife, if she would marry me and no
other. She said that it was the happiest day of her life, to be asked by me,
for I said I wanted no other but her. It was the happiest day of my life
when she said she would have me as her husband.
"Everyone was very pleased. Everyone loved us both, and kept us
sheltered in their arms for a long time to show their joy. As we sat
together with everyone, we all talked about the plans for the wedding and
how much we would all be pleased that Marilee and I would be husband and
wife and bring children among our people."
Owen stared off in his thoughts. It seemed that he might have forgotten
that he'd stopped speaking.
"So, was it a grand wedding?" Richard finally prompted.
Owen still stared off. "The men of the Order came. That was when we
first realized that the seal, that had protected our people since the
beginning times, had failed. There was no longer a barrier protecting us.
"Our empire was now naked to savages."
Kahlan knew that what she had done had caused the boundary to fail,
resulting in these people being defenseless. She had had no choice, but that
didn't make it any easier to hear.
"They came to our town, where I was speaker. Our town, like others, has
walls all around; those who gave us our name, Bandakar, proclaimed that
towns should be built such as this. It was wise of them to tell us this. The
walls protect us from the beasts of the forests, make us safe, without
having to harm any creatures.
"The men of the Order set up a camp outside our walls. There was really
no place for them to stay in the town--we have no accommodations to house so
many people because we never have great numbers of visitors from other
towns. Worse, I was fearful of having such men as they looked sleeping under
our roof with us. It was wrong to have such fear; it is my failing, not
theirs, I know, but I had the fear.
"Since I was the speaker for my town, I went out to their camp with
food and offerings. I was filled with my sinful failing of being afraid of
them. They were big, some with long, dark, greasy, tangled hair, some with
shaved heads, many with filthy beards of coarse hair--none of them with fair
sun-golden hair like our people. It was shocking to see them wearing hides
of animals, leather plates, chains and metal, and straps with sharp studs.
Hanging on their belts, they all carried vicious-looking implements the
likes of which I had never in my life imagined, but which I later learned
were weapons.
"I told these strange men that they were welcome to share what we had,
that we would honor them. I told them that they were invited to sit with us,
to share their words with us."
Everyone waited in silence, not wanting to say a word as tears ran down
Owen's face and dripped off his jaw.
"The men of the Order did not sit with us. They did not share their
words with us. Though I spoke to them, they acted as if I were not worthy of
their recognition, other than to grin at me as if they intended to eat me.
"I sought to allay their fears, since it is the fear of others that
causes hostility. I assured the men that we were peaceful and intended them
no ill will. I told them that we would do our best to accommodate them among
us.
"The man who was their speaker, a commander he called himself, spoke to
me then. He told me that his name was Luchan. His shoulders were twice as
wide as mine, even though he was no taller than me. This man, Luchan, said
that he did not believe me. I was horrified to hear this. He said that he
thought my people meant him harm. He accused us of wishing to kill his men.
I was shaken that he would think such a thing of us, especially after I had
told him of our open welcome to his men. I was shaken to know that I had
done something to cause him to feel we were threatening to him and his men.
I assured him of our desire to be peaceful with them.
"Luchan smiled at me then, not a smile of happiness, not a smile like I
had ever seen before. He said that they were going to burn down our town and
kill all the people in it to prevent us from attacking his men as they
slept. I begged him to believe our peaceful ways, to sit with us and share
his worries and we would do what we needed to do to dispel such doubts and
show him our love of him for being our fellow man.
"Luchan said, then, that he would not burn down our town and kill us
all upon a condition, as he called it. He said that if I would surrender my
woman to him as a token of my sincerity and goodwill he would then believe
our words. He said that if, on the other hand, I failed to send her out to
him, what happened would be my fault, would be on my head, for not
cooperating with them, for not showing my sincerity and goodwill toward
them.
"I went back to hear the words of my people. Everyone agreed and said
that I must do this--that I must send Marilee out to the men of the Order so
that they would not burn down our town and murder everyone. I asked them not
to decide so quickly, and offered the idea that we could close the gates in
the wall to keep the men from coming in and harming us. My people said that
men such as these would find a way to break the wall, and then they would
murder everyone for shutting our gates and shaming them with our bigotry
toward them. The people all spoke up loudly that I must show the man Luchan
goodwill and our peaceful intent, that I must allay his fears of us.
"I never felt so alone among my people. I could not go against the word
of everyone, for it is taught that only the voices of people joined together
in one voice can be wise enough to know the true way. No one person can know
what is right. Only consensus can make a thing right.
"My knees trembled as I stood before Marilee. I heard myself ask if she
wished me to do as the men wanted--as our people wanted. I told her that I
would run away with her if she would wish it. She wept as she said that she
would not hear such sinful talk from me, for it would mean the death of
everyone else.
"She said that she must go to the men of the Order to appease them or
there would be violence. She told me that she would tell them of our
peaceful ways and thus gentle them toward us.
"I was proud of Marilee for upholding the highest values of our people.
I wanted to die for being proud of such a thing as would take her from me.
"I kissed Marilee a last time, but I could not stop my tears. I held
her in my arms and we wept together.
"Then, I took her out to the man who was their commander, Luchan. He
had a thick black beard, a shaved head, and a ring through one ear and one
nostril. He said that I had made a wise choice. His sundarkened arms were
nearly as big around as Marilee's waist. His big filthy hand took Marilee by
her arm and bore her away with him as he turned back and told me to 'scurry
back' to my town, to my people. His men laughed at me as they watched me go
back up the road.
"The men of the Order left my town and my people alone. We had peace I
had purchased with Marilee.
"I had no peace in my heart.
"For a time, the men of the Order were gone from our town. They
returned, then, one afternoon, and called for me to come out. I asked Luchan
about Marilee, if she was well, if she was happy. Luchan turned his head and
spat, then said he didn't know, that he never asked her. I was worried, and
asked if she spoke with him of our peaceful ways, assured him of our
innocent intent toward him. He said that when he was with women he wasn't
much interested in them for their talking.
"He winked at me. Though I had never seen anyone wink in such a
fashion, I knew his meaning.
"I was very frightened for Marilee, but I reminded myself that nothing
is real, that I could not really know anything from what I was hearing. I
was only hearing what this one man said of things, as he saw them, and I
knew that I was only sensing part of the world. I could not know reality
from my eyes and ears alone.
"Luchan said, then, that I should open the town gates lest they think
we were acting in a hostile way toward them. Luchan said that if we failed
to do as he asked, it would begin a cycle of violence.
"I went back and spoke his words to all the people gathered around me.
My people all spoke in one voice, and said that we must open the gates and
invite them in to prove that we held no hostility, no prejudice, toward the
men.
"The men of the Order came in through those gates we let stand wide for
them and seized nearly all the women, from those still the age of girls to
grandmothers. I stood with the other men, begging them to leave our women
be, to leave us be. I told them that we had agreed to their demands to prove
to them that we meant them no harm, but it did no good. They would not
listen.
"I told Luchan, then, that I had sent Marilee to him as his condition
for peace. I told him that they must honor their agreement. Luchan and his
men laughed.
"I cannot say if what I saw then was real. Reality is in the realm of
fate, and we, in this place we think we know as the world, cannot know it in
full truth. That day, fate swept down on my people; we had no say in it. We
know that we must not fight against fate, for it has already been
foreordained by the true reality we cannot see.
"I watched as our women were dragged away. I watched, unable to do
anything, as they screamed our names, as they reached out for us, as the
hands of those big men held our women and bore them away from us. I had
never heard such screams as I heard that day."
The overcast seemed as if it would soon brush the tops of the trees. In
the thick silence, Kahlan heard a bird in the bristlecone pines singing.
Owen was alone, off in his solitary world of terrible memories. Richard
stood, arms folded, watching the man, but saying nothing.
"I went to other towns," Owen finally said. "In a couple of places, the
Order had been there before me. The men of the Order did much the same to
those towns as they had done to my town; they took the women. In some places
they also took a few men.
"In other places I went, the Order had not come yet. As the speaker of
my town, I told them of what had befallen my town and I urged others to do
something. They were angry with me and said it was wrong to resist, that to
resist was to give in to violence, to become no better than the savages.
They urged me to renounce my outspoken ways and to heed the wisdom of the
joined voices of our people that had brought enlightenment and thousands of
years of peace. They told me that I was only looking at events through my
limited eyes, and not the better judgment of the group.
"I went then to one of our important cities and told them again that
the seal on the pass was broken and that the Imperial Order was upon us, and
that something must be done. I urged them to listen to me and to consider
what we could do to protect our people.
"Because I was so inconsiderately assertive, the assembly of speakers
took me to the Wise One so that I might have his counsel. It is a great
honor to have the words of the Wise One. The Wise One told me that I must
forgive those who had done these things against my people, if we were to end
the violence.
"The Wise One said that the anger and hostility shown by the men of the
Order was a mark of their inner pain, a cry for help, and they must be shown
compassion and understanding. I should have been humbled by such clear
wisdom as could only come from the Wise One, but instead I spoke out of my
wish for Marilee and all the other people to be returned from such men, and
for the speakers to help me in this.
"The Wise One said that Marilee would find her own happiness without me
and that I was guilty of selfishness for wanting to keep her for myself. He
said that fate had come for the other people and it was not my place to make
demands of fate.
"I asserted to the speakers and the Wise One that the men of the Order
had not upheld the agreement made by Luchan for Marilee to be sent to them.
The Wise One said that Marilee had acted properly by going in peace to the
men so that the cycle of violence would end. He said that it was selfish and
sinful for me to put my wants above peace she selflessly worked toward and
that my attitude toward them was probably what had provoked the men to
anger.
"I asked what I was to do, when I had acted honestly but they had not.
The Wise One said that I was wrong to condemn men I did not know, men I had
not first forgiven, or tried to embrace, or even to understand. He said that
I must encourage them in the ways of peace by throwing myself before them
and begging them to forgive me for acting in a way that kindled their inner
pain by reminding them of past wrongs done to them.
"I told the Wise One, then, in front of all the other speakers, that I
did not want to forgive these men or to embrace these men, but that I wanted
to cast them out of our lives.
"I was given a denunciation."
Richard handed Owen a cup of water but said nothing. Owen sipped at the
water without seeing it.
"The gathering of speakers commanded me to go back to my town and seek
the advice of those among whom I lived, commanding that I ask my people to
counsel me back to our ways. I went back intending to redeem myself, only to
discover that it had become worse than before.
"Now, the Order had returned to take whatever they wanted from the
town--food and goods. We would have given them whatever they wanted, but
they never asked, they just took. More of our men had been taken away,
too--some of the boys and some of those who were young and strong. Other
men, who had in some way offended the dignity of the men of the Order, had
been murdered.
"People I knew stood staring with empty eyes at blood where our friends
had died. In other such places, people gathered to mound remembrances over
the blood. These places had become sacred shrines and people knelt there to
pray. The children would not stop crying. No one would counsel me.
"Everyone in my town trembled behind doors, but they cast their eyes
down and opened those doors when the men of the Order knocked, lest we
offend them.
"I could not stand to be in our town any longer. I ran to the country,
even though I was terrified that I would be alone. There, in the hills, I
found other men, selfish as I, hiding in fear for their lives. Together, we
decided to try to do something, to try to bring an end to the misery. We
resolved to restore peace.
"At first, we sent representatives to speak with the men of the Order,
to let them know that we meant them no harm, and that we only sought peace
with them, and to ask what we could do to satisfy them. The men of the Order
hung these men by their ankles from poles at the edge of our town and
skinned them alive.
"I knew these men all my life, these men who had counseled me, advised
me, broken fasts with me, sheltered me in their arms with joy when I had
told them Marilee and I wanted to be wed. The men of the Order left these
poor men to hang by their ankles as they screamed in agony in the hot summer
sun, where the black-tipped races came and found them.
"I reminded myself that what I saw that day was not real, and that I
should not believe such sights, that possibly my eyes were deceiving me as
punishment for having improper thoughts, and that my mind could not possibly
know if this sight was real or an illusion.
"Not every man that had gone to speak with the men of the Order was
killed. A few of our men were sent back to us with word from the Order. They
said that if we did not come down out of the hills and return to their rule
in our town, to show that we did not intend to attack them, then they would
begin skinning a dozen people a day, and hanging them on poles for the
races, until either we returned to demonstrate our peaceful intent, or until
every last person left in the town was skinned alive.
"Many of our men wept, unable to stand to think that they would be the
cause of a cycle of violence, so they went back to the town to show that
they intended no harm.
"Not all of us went back. A few of us remained in the hills. Since most
returned, and the Order had no count of us, they thought all had complied
with their command.
"Those few of us who were left in the hills hid, living off the nuts,
fruits, and berries we could find or the food we snuck back and stole. We
slowly gathered together supplies to see us through. I told the other men
with me that we should find out what the Order was doing with our people
they had taken away. Since the men of the Order didn't know us, we could
sometimes mingle in with people working the fields or tending to animals and
sneak back into our town without the Order knowing who we were--without
knowing that we were men from the hills. Over the next months, we followed
and watched the men of the Order.
"The children had been sent away, but the men of the Order had taken
all the women to a place they built--an encampment, they called it--that
they fortified against attack."
Owen put his face in his hands again as he spoke through sobs. "They
were using our women as breeding stock. They sought to have them bear
children--as many children as they could birth--children of their soldiers.
Some women were already pregnant. Most of those who weren't already pregnant
became pregnant. Over the next year and a half, many children were born.
They were nursed for a time, and then they were all sent away as their
mothers were gotten pregnant again.
"I don't know where these children were taken--somewhere beyond our
empire. The men who had been taken from the towns were also taken away
beyond our empire.
"The men of the Order did not watch their captives well, since our
people shunned violence, so a couple of men escaped and ran to the hills,
where they found us. They told us that the Order had taken them to see the
women, and told them that if they did not do as they were told, if they did
not follow all the orders they were given, then all these women before them
would die--that they would be skinned alive. These men who escaped did not
know where they were to be taken, or what it was they were to do, only that
if they did not follow the instructions given them, then they would be the
cause of the violence to our women.
"After a year and a half of hiding, of meeting with others, we learned
that the Order had spread to other places in our empire, taken other towns
and cities. The Wise One and the speakers went into hiding. We discovered
that some towns and cities had invited the Order to come in, to be among
them, in an attempt to appease them and keep them from doing harm.
"No matter how hard our people tried, their concessions failed to
placate the belligerence of the men of the Order. We could not understand
why this was true.
"In some of the largest cities, though, it was different. The people
there had listened to the speakers of the Order and had come to believe that
the cause of the Imperial Order was the same as our cause--to bring an end
to abuse and injustice. The Order convinced these people that they abhorred
violence, that they had been enlightened as were our people, but they had to
turn to violence to defeat those who would oppress us all. They said that
they were champions of our people's cause of enlightenment. The people there
rejoiced that they were at last in the hands of saviors who would spread our
words of enlightenment to the savages who did not yet live by peace."
Richard, a thunderstorm building, could hold his tongue no longer. "And
even after all the brutality, these people believed the words of the
Imperial Order?"
Owen spread his hands. "The people in those places were swayed by the
words of the Order--that they were fighting for the same ideals as we lived
by. They told our people in those cities that they had only acted as they
did because my town and some of the other places like it had sided with the
savages from the north--with the D'Haran Empire.
"I had heard this name before--the D'Haran Empire. During the year and
a half that I lived in the hills with the other men, I sometimes traveled
out of our land, out into the surrounding places, to see what I could
discover that might help us to cast the Imperial Order out of Bandakar.
While I was out of my land, I went to some of the cities in the Old World,
as I learned it was called. In one place, Altur'Rang, I heard whispers of a
great man from the north, from the D'Haran Empire, who brought freedom.
"Other of my men also went out to other places. When we returned, we
all told each other what we had seen, what we had heard. All those who came
back told of the same thing, told of hearing of one called Lord Rahl, and
his wife, the Mother Confessor, who fought the Imperial Order.
"Then, we learned where the Wise One was being kept safe, as were most
of our greatest speakers. It was in our greatest city, a place where the
Order had not yet come. The Order was busy with other places and so they
were in no hurry. My people were going nowhere--they had nowhere to go.
"The men who were with me wanted me to be their speaker, to go to talk
with these great speakers, to convince them that we must do something to
stop the Imperial Order and cast them out of Bandakar.
"I journeyed to the great city, a place I had never been before, and I
was inspired at seeing a place that such a great culture as ours had built.
A culture about to be destroyed, if I could not convince these great
speakers and the Wise One to think of something to do to stop the Order.
"I spoke before them with great urgency. I told them of all the Order
had done. I told them of the men I had in hiding, waiting for word of what
they were to do.
"The great speakers said that I cannot know the true nature of the
Order from what I and a few men had seen--that the Imperial Order was a vast
nation and we saw only a tiny speck of their people. They said that men
cannot do such cruel acts as I described because it would cause them to
shrink back in horror before they could complete them. To prove it, they
suggested that I try to skin one of them. I admitted that I could not, but I
told them that I had seen the men of the Order do this.
"The speakers scorned my insistence that it was real. They said I must
always keep in mind that reality is not for us to know. They said that the
men of the Imperial Order were probably frightened that we might be a
violent people, and simply wanted to test our resolve by tricking us into
believing that the things I described were real so that they could see how
we reacted--if peace was really our way, or if we would attack them.
"The great speakers said, then, that I could not know if I really saw
all the things I said, and that even if I did, I could not judge if they
were for the bad, or the good--that I was not the person to judge the
reasons of men I did not know, that to do so would be to believe that I was
above them, and to put myself above them would be an act of prejudiced
hostility.
"I could only think of all the things I had seen, of the men with me
who all agreed that we must convince the great speakers to act to preserve
our empire. I could only see in my mind the face of Luchan. And then, I
thought of Marilee in the hands of this man. I thought of the sacrifice she
had made, and how her life was cast away into this horror for nothing.
"I stood up before the great speakers and screamed that they were
evil."
Cara snorted a laugh. "Seems you can tell what's real, when you put
your mind to it."
Richard shot her a withering glare.
Owen glanced up and blinked. His thoughts had been so distant as he
told his story that he hadn't really heard her. He looked up at Richard.
"That was when they banished me," he said.
"But the boundary seal had failed," Richard said. "You had already come
and gone through the pass. How could they enforce a banishment with the
boundary down?"
Owen waved dismissively. "They do not need the wall of death.
Banishment is in a way a sentence of death--the death of the person as a
citizen of Bandakar. My name would be known throughout the empire, at least
what was left of it, and every person would shun me. I would be turned away
from every door. I was one of the banished. No one would want to have any
contact with me. I was now an outcast. It does not matter that they could
not put me beyond the barrier; they put me beyond my people. That was worse.
"I went back to my men in the hills to collect my things and confess to
them that I had been banished. I was going to go out beyond our homeland, as
I had been commanded by the will of our people through our great speakers.
"But my men, those in the hills, they would not see me go. They said
that the banishment was wrong. These men had seen the things I had seen.
They had wives, mothers, daughters, sisters who had been taken away. They
all had seen their friends murdered, seen the men skinned alive and left to
suffer in agony as they died, seen the races come to circle over them as
they hung on those poles. They said that since all our eyes had seen these
things, then these things must be true, must be real.
"They all said that we had gone into the hills because we love our land
and want to restore the peace we once had. They said that the great speakers
were the ones whose eyes did not see and they were condemning our people to
murder at the hands of savage men and those of our people who lived to a
cruel life under the rule of the Imperial Order, to be used as breeding
stock or as slaves.
"I was shocked that these men would not reject me for being
banished--that they wanted me to stay with them.
"It was then that we decided that we would be the ones to do something,
to come up with the plan we always wanted the speakers to decide. When I
asked what would be our plan, everyone said the same thing.
"They all said that we must get Lord Rahl to come and give us freedom.
They all spoke with one voice.
"We decided, then, what we would do. Some men said that one such as the
Lord Rahl would come to cast out the Order when we asked.
Others thought you might not be willing, since you are unenlightened
and not of our ways, not of our people. When we considered that possibility,
we decided that we must have a way to insure you would have to come, should
you refuse us.
"Since I was banished, I said that it was upon me to do this thing.
Except to live in the hills with my men, I could have no life among our
people unless we cast out the Imperial Order and our ways were restored to
us. I told the men that I did not know where I could find the Lord Rahl, but
that I would not give up until I did so.
"First, though, one of the men, an older man who had spent his life
working with herbs and cures, made me the poison I put into your waterskin.
He made me the antidote as well. He told me how the poison worked, and how
it could be counteracted, since none of us wished to consider that it would
come to murder, even of an unenlightened man."
By the sidelong look Richard gave her, Kahlan knew that he wanted her
to hold her tongue, and knew that she was having difficulty doing so. She
redoubled her effort.
"I was worried about how I would find you," Owen said to Richard, "but
I knew I had to. Before I could go in search of you, though, I had to hide
the rest of the antidote, as was our plan.
"While in a city where the Order had won the people to their side, I
heard some people at a market say that it was a great honor that the very
man who had come to their city was the most important man among all those of
the Imperial Order in Bandakar. The thought struck me that this man might
know something of the man the Order hated most--Lord Rahl.
"I stayed in the city for several days, watching the place where this
man was said to be. I watched the soldiers come and go. I saw that they
sometimes took people in with them, and then later the people came back out.
"One day I saw people come back out and they did not appear to be
harmed, so I made my way close to them to hear what they might say. I heard
them talk that they had seen the great man himself. I could not hear much of
what they said of their visit inside, but none said that they were hurt.
"And then I saw the soldiers come out, and I suspected that they might
be going to get more people to take them in to see this great man, so I went
before them into a central gathering square. I waited, then, near the open
isles between the public benches. The soldiers rushed in and gathered up a
small crowd of people and I was swept up with the others.
"I was terrified of what would happen to me, but I thought this might
be my only chance to go in the building with this important man, my only
chance to see what he looked like, to see the place where he was so I could
know where to sneak back and listen, as I had learned to do when living in
the hills with my men. I had resolved to do this to see if I could learn any
information on Lord Rahl. Still, I was trembling with worry when they took
us all into the building and down halls and up stairs to the top floor.
"I feared that I was being led to the slaughter and wanted to run, but